Washington- The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today announced the designation of Iowa's Davenport Public Library as a Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC). As the 81st library in the nationwide network, Davenport marks Iowa's return to the PTRC program and serves as the first center geared away from the "paper depository" concept towards electronic access and training for patent and trademark information.

Replacing the State Library of Iowa, the former PTRC for the state, the Davenport Public Library will provide a place for Iowans to access patent and trademark information with the help of USPTO trained librarians. USPTO's Patent and Trademark Resource Center - formerly known as the Patent and Trademark Depository Library Program (PTDL) - is a nationwide network of public, state, special and academic libraries authorized to disseminate patent and trademark information and to support inventors, intellectual property attorneys/agents, business people, researchers, entrepreneurs, students, historians and the general public who are not able to come to USPTO's offices in Alexandria, Virginia.

Services at the libraries are free and include assistance in using patent and trademark information, training on USPTO databases and hosting public seminars on intellectual property topics for novice and experienced innovators. A list of the current PTRC libraries can be found on the USPTO website at www.uspto.gov/go/ptdl.

The resource center will open to the public on Thursday, September 8, 2011 and celebrate its grand opening with a free day-long seminar on patent and trademark information.

The Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC) program began in 1871 when federal law first provided for the distribution of printed patents to libraries for use by the public. A list of all the current libraries can be found on USPTO's website at www.uspto.gov/products/library/ptdl/locations/index.jsp.